Opposites Attract
by Sri Starlz
Summary: Entry for Phantomhive Cahill's Jealous Much? contest ;) It's a Nedison two-chap. Rated T... I don't know why xD Sorry for the awful summary, but I hope you enjoy! R&R people :D
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hihi! :) So I know I haven't been too active on FF for a LONG time... Oh, who am I kidding, for more than three months. -_- Just so you know, it was 'cause my Internet randomly blocked the website. I finally figured out a way to go on FF on a mobile device, but it's really hard to get on, so that's why I barely ever get on. I WILL try, from now, to update more often, though. :)**

**My all-time FAVORITE 39 Clues couple is Amian. AMIAN FOREVAHH *fangirl moment* :D 'Scuse me :D ...Ahem. So anyway, yes my favorite couple IS Amian, but I do like new stuff. So this is a one-shot about how a certain young Starling falls in love with a pretty, athletic young Holt. ;) **

**Again, this story is for Phantomhive Cahill's Jealous Much? contest. :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues... I don't think rabid fangirls ****_are _****allowed to own the series... :( XD**

Opposites Attract

_I can't believe I'm doing this,_ I thought for the millionth time yesterday, as I sat on the sidewalk and watched her pass me for the seventh time. She still hadn't seen me, although I guess to one who was as focused as her on her training, I was probably just another object out of the main focus of her vision.

Even if this _is_ just a diary, I must properly introduce myself before I go on with my story. I'm Ned Starling. (Just by the way, there is NOTHING Ned is short for. It is most certainly _not _short for Neodore.) I'm part of this crazy family known as the Cahills, in which I'm an Ekat- I'm super smart. Not to boast or anything, you know, but everyone knows the Ekats are the smartest and best-developed of the Cahills.

The girl I was watching run laps around the square was none other than one of my distant cousins, member of the Tomas branch, Madison Holt. She wasn't the reason I was there, really- I just needed information. Information as to where her sister was.

I sat a while longer, as she ran seven more laps without collapsing, or even slowing down too much. I think it was then that I truly began to appreciate the wonders of the human body and how much, when correctly engineered, it had the potential to endure...

But that's beside the point. She finally began to slow down, on her fifteenth lap, finished it, and stopped not a hundred yards from me, bending down with her hands on her knees, breathing hard. I decided to make use of the opportunity and got up, walking towards her. "Madison?"

She looked up at me suspiciously, no sign of recognition in her face. "Who are ya, nerd-boy?"

My lips pressed together. "Ned. I'm Ned Starling." I flashed the dragon pin clipped to my shirt at her.

Finally, it dawned on her. "Oh, you. What're _you _doing here?"

"I'm on a mission," I said. I didn't tell her exactly what type of mission. She'd probably have tackled me then and there if I'd told her. "I need to talk to Reagan."

"Reagan..." Madison scrunched up her nose, thinking. Her blue eyes dilated as they looked at me, past me, through me. I stepped back instinctively.

"Reagan's probably at home. C'mon, I'll show you." She grabbed my arm and started walking. I followed meekly, wondering how on Earth I was going to survive being in the Holt house.

We got there soon, although that was probably not too surprising, considering the rate she'd been walking at. It was a two-story, just your typical house, with a small, neat lawn bordered with pretty pink petunias outside. Looking at it, someone who wasn't a Cahill would never have thought that a family that ran on brute strength and could probably run from East Coast to West in a month lived inside.

Madison walked right up to the door, and barely pausing to shove it open, let go of my arm and ran inside. "Reagan! _Reagan_! REAGAN!"

I'd paused outside the door to take off my shoes. I ventured in after that girl and found her in the kitchen, opening a large pack of chips. She held the packet out to me. "Want some? Reagan'll be down in a minute. Whaddaya want, 7Up, Coke, or-"

"Just apple juice."

"Ew. I hate apple juice. Are you sure you wouldn't like orange or mango instead?"

"Nope. I like apple."

She poured me some obligingly. As we ate and drank, I asked her, "Where're your parents and Ham?"

"Ham's football match. Reag and I stayed home 'cause I've got a date, and she's got a ton of projects. Golly, I'm so glad I didn't get her teacher. Everyone says Ms. Blians is awful, she just gives you so much homework just as you can almost taste summer. Only three days of school left." Madison grinned, a little out of breath.

I processed this. "Cool. What subject does she teach?"

"Science." Madison got up and went to the stairs. "REAG! Hurry up! I have to go get ready for my date next!"

"Your _what?!_"

"My date..." She came back to the table and drew out another handful of chips.

"You're _dating?! _But aren't you like, fourteen?!"

"Yeah... so?" She shrugged. "I know him really well. We're like the awesomest friends, and then we just... started dating." She smiled. "You know him too."

"Who is he?" I tried to keep my voice nonchalant. I felt protective, like older-brother protective, I guess...

"I'll give you a hint. His initials are D.A.C." She winked at me.

It took me less than a second to figure out. "You're dating _Dan?!_"_  
_

"Yep. It's not like we're madly in love or anything. We're not your typical cheesy couple. We're just really good friends."

I nodded. Dan. Of all people... "When's he coming to pick you up?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"I don't know much about dates, but I'm guessing you better go get ready? I don't mind waiting for Reagan alone."

"Oh, okay." She looked relieved. "I'll see ya, then."

I sat at the table, slowly emptying the chip packet and wondering how Dan and Madison had gotten together. Dadison. For some reason, I couldn't take well to the idea, although she'd convinced me of the nature of their relationship. They just didn't fit. Sure, he was kinda cute, attractive to girls maybe, and she was really pretty-ish, blossoming out... But my scientific mind just couldn't accept the idea of them together.

Then I realized what it was. One of the first principles I'd been taught in physics. _Opposites attract. _Dan and Madison were too alike. They were both into video games and sports and ninjas and that type of thing. They both had blond hair (well, Dan's was practically brown in places, but still). They were like the two north poles on two magnets.

Blond didn't go well on blond. But I knew what it _would _look good on- a dark red like mine..._  
_

My daydream was cut short when Reagan came bounding down the stairs. She was pretty similar to her twin, only leaner... and I personally thought Madison was a heck of a lot prettier. Reagan had released her hair from those pigtails both twins used to wear earlier, but Madison still wore them. (They made Madison look adorably childish.) She walked to the kitchen, pulled out a chair, and stretched out her hand for some chips.

"Hi, Ned. What's up?"

I remembered what I was there for. An awkward topic... I wondered how I was going to start. "Well... Reagan, I'm here to talk to you about my brother."

"Ted?" She looked mildly surprised, but I thought I saw a tiny sparkle in her eyes which encouraged me. I went on, more confidently.

"I'd noticed lately that you guys've been hanging out a lot. His manner's completely changed, Reagan. I talked to him last night, and he admitted to me that he likes you."

There. I'd dropped the bombshell... not too suddenly, I hoped. I ran my fingers through my hair.

"He wants you to be his girlfriend. I know he's blind..." My voice caught a bit. "But if you somehow liked him back, and agreed to date him, it would mean the world to him. Will you date him, Reagan?"

I sat back. I'd done my job. What happened next was up to her.

"I..." Reagan stared down at the table. "Ned, I'd say yes if he asked me out this very second. But what I don't get is... why're you in this? I mean, why didn't he ask me out himself?!"

"I insisted," I said. "Sinead and Ted are leaving tomorrow for Las Vegas, on some Ekat business. He was really firm that you needed to know all this today, because he won't be back for a month. One of us was required to stay back at home, to help Sinead finish some work that she needs to take to Vegas, and since neither of us know your house, I wasn't going to let him try to find it by himself. I found Madison, who showed me to the house... what would he have done?"

Reagan nodded. "Tell- tell your brother- tell him I'm perfectly happy with being his girlfriend. I mean... tell him I said yes." She looked up at me and smiled radiantly.

I grinned and fist-pumped. I couldn't help it, I was so happy for him.

As if on cue, I heard Madison coming downstairs. She walked to the doorway of the kitchen and struck a pose. "Hey, people! How do I look?"

"Awesome, Madi!" Reagan squealed, hugging her.

I couldn't say anything for a second. I just watched her.

She was... gorgeous. I hadn't realized it before at all. I'd only thought she was pretty. She was attired in a dark violet mid-calf dress which perfectly set off her skin and hair. Her hair was not elaborately made, but just down with a couple of clips fastening strands to the middle. She wore tiny orange hoops at her ears, which swung whenever she moved her head.

I decided then and there that my feelings to her weren't brotherly. Not even close.

I didn't mind admitting it to myself, at first. Yes, the great Ned Starling had fallen for a girl such as Madison Holt. Then I remembered the reason she was all dressed up.

_Dan._

I think I succeeded in hiding my feelings to him just then, when there was a _Ding-dong! _and Madison opened the door to let him in. He walked to the kitchen, and I saw how formally he was dressed, how attractive his jade-green eyes looked just then, how innocent they still seemed to me. I took in his tux and looked down at my basketball shorts (yes, I _do _occasionally wear basketball shorts); his hair and the way it fell over his forehead to mine, which stuck up straight and was messy from when I'd run my hands through it while talking to Reagan; his twinkling jade eyes to my plain, dark green ones, that too behind dorky glasses; his sturdy frame, just an inch or so taller than Madison, and my long, lanky body, maybe four inches taller than her. He was maybe a month or two older than her; me, three years.

I decided also, then and there, that I am jealous of Dan Cahill.

Yeah, I know it's all dramatic, totally not Ned Starling-like, but I can't help it, okay? You try comparing yourself with some guy your crush might like and see in how many ways you're inferior to them. Jealousy's the emotion that automatically pops up.

I'll write more in this diary when I have something to report. I want to leave this diary to be just for what happens between me and her.

**I'm not really happy with this writing... Oh well. :/ I'll finish it up in the next chapter, so it'll just be two chapters... Is that okay, Phantomhive? :) Pleeeaaseee :D **

**Okay. Now I'm going to post this, sit back and wait for the reviews to flow in. You people had better not disappoint me.**

**Hahahah jkjk just revieeeww xD **

**Buh-bye :P**

**~Sri**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I know, AmianNatan4ever, I know- but seriously, I've only got four days to finish this story. I swear I'll update a Very Cahill Reunion TOMORROW. A'ight? :)**

**Thanks to my five awesome reviewers! *hugs* Hope you enjoy this chapter :D **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues. :D**

Opposites Attract- Chapter 2

Hey. It's Ned again. It's been a month and a half since I wrote, hasn't it? Ted and Sinead came back from Vegas two weeks ago, and Ted went on his first date with Reagan a couple of days later.

I love my brother and all, but he's not really the reason I'm writing today. No, I've got things of my own to report. Yes, it's Madison again.

We had a Cahill reunion four days ago- one of those get-together things Amy and Dan's uncle Fiske organizes occasionally. There was the usual going to Boston, greeting the other Clue-hunters civilly (yeah, we've all learned to be more... _normal_ with our former enemies now), Truth or Dare, seperate activities, and so on. Ted and Reagan, the happy couple, got teased quite a lot during Truth or Dare, but they didn't really mind.

After Truth or Dare, Madison, Dan, and Natalie went off by themselves for a bit. I could only assume they were trying to prank Sinead and Hamilton or Amy and Ian, because I couldn't think of any other reason Natalie would go with those two. And I was right, because I saw Amy and Ian running out of the house, yelling their heads off, and the tip of Madison's pigtail as she and her accomplices disappeared behind the house.

I was chilling with Jonah and Phoenix on the porch, because I didn't want to intrude upon my brother and his girlfriend.

Presently, Madison came up to us, unsmiling, looking kinda serious for a Holt. Dan and Natalie were nowhere in sight. I wondered what was up. She dropped down on a porch chair. "Hey, Ned, Jonah, Phoenix."

"Hi, Madison," we said together. The four of us stayed silent for a while. Jonah had his earphones in and his iPod in his pocket, and Phoenix was doing something on his phone. I was just remembering the day we- Sinead, Ted and I- had broken into the theater in England during the clue hunt, taking the other hunters by surprise.

Presently, I got up. "I need something to drink, I'll be right back."

"'Kay," Jonah and Phoenix chorused.

Madison hopped up. "I'll come with you."

"Sure," I said, puzzled. We walked to the kitchen, and I poured myself some orange juice. "Do you want some?"

"Um, no, I like apple juice better," she said, going to the refrigerator.

I stopped her. "Wait, I'll get you some," I offered chivalrously.

She smiled. "Okay."

I got her her apple juice, and we both walked to the living room, plopping down on the couches. We drank in silence for a while.

Finally, I couldn't hold the question in any longer. "Where's Dan?"

She frowned. "With Natalie, I think."

"Oh." I didn't say any more. I wondered what that brat was doing with that stuck-up British kid when his girlfriend was practically moping for him over here.

Surprisingly, she spoke. "We're almost at the break-up stage."

"_What?_ Why?"

"I don't know... He's been spending a lot of time with Natalie since she and her brother flew here three days ago for the reunion.

I didn't know what to say at first. Then I decided to come straight to the point. "Jealous?" I asked, only half-teasing.

She looked up at me. "Kinda."

"I thought you were just really great friends. That's what you told me when I came to your house that day."

"Yeah, well, I guess I _did_ actually like him. You can't help liking him, even if it's just as a friend. But I think he's going to break up with me, because, well, Natalie..." She trailed off.

"Wait. First off, I don't understand why you're telling _me_ all this."

She bit her lip. "I don't know. I guess Reagan, well, she's just too wrapped up in your brother to really listen to me." She snorted. "Who else am I supposed to talk to? Not Dan, obviously. You- you just seemed okay, like you would understand."

I accepted that. "Um, okay. Now, tell me what you'd say if Dan breaks up with you."

She smiled nervously. "Um... I'd probably just stare at him for a minute, even though I'd know it was going to happen someday. Then I'd ask why."

"Let's say he says something like it's not working out anymore... let's just be friends..." I suggested. Wow. Ned Starling, the relationship advisor.

"I'd say okay, and go away," she said, no doubt in her voice.

"That's good, then..."

"Oh. Well, then, we'll see how it works."

I gave her a thumbs-up. "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

She smiled- genuinely this time. "Thanks, Ned. You helped."

"No problem. Anytime." I winked at her.

We talked loosely about daily life, our siblings' relationship and how we felt about that, Cahill business, and so on. I enjoyed watching her talk, the way she tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear, the way she pursed her lips and thought about something before she said it (unlike the rest of the Holts, who I knew usually did things impulsively),... just in general, _her. _

Then our cousins burst in upon us in full force, led by none other than Dan and Natalie. "Hey, Ned, Madison! C'mon, we're going to the mall," Natalie said, smiling widely.

"All of us?" Madison asked, her voice cracking. I looked at her and saw that she was staring at Dan, who was watching Natalie talk, grinning.

"Yep. All of us," said Nellie, squeezing into the living room. "Last one to the car is a two-eyed giraffe!"

There was a rush for the door before we comprehended what she'd actually said. "Wait... don't giraffes have two eyes anyway?" said Hamilton.

Nellie glared at him. "Your point?"

Ham looked confused for a moment. "Um, wouldn't it be enough if you said 'a giraffe' instead of 'a two-legged giraffe'?"

Nellie thought for a moment. "Alright. Last one to the car is an orange giraffe!"

Ian slapped his forehead. The rest of us streaked for the van, Madison and her twin in the lead.

That was about the last time we talked at the reunion, which ended pretty quickly. It was just two days, but the Kabras stayed on at the mansion because Ian and Amy needed to work on some branch-cooperation business.

Yesterday, Madison and Reagan came to our house. Reagan went to Ted's room immediately, and Madison stayed to talk to me instead of leaving quickly.

"Hiya, Ned." We were seated at the dining room table again, eating more chips.

"Hey, Madison. You look happy," I observed.

She smiled. "I guess I am... well, not _happy_, but relieved, at least. Dan broke up with me yesterday." She stared at the floor. "Funny, he said almost exactly the same things you predicted he would say, so I was prepared. It all went pretty much like we'd rehearsed.

I laughed. "Wow, you must've thanked your stars I helped you rehearse," I said teasingly.

She grinned. "Yeah. Thanks, Ned."

"Anytime." I winked. _Dèjâ vû moment,_ I thought.

That's all I've got to report for now. I think maybe- just maybe, I have a chance with her... At least I'm not jealous of Dan anymore. I wonder what's going to happen between Madi and _moi_... for now, I'm just content to be by her side when she needs me, and interact with her as a friend. But just for now.

**Done. :) This is the first time I've actually finished a chapter story, even if it's just two chapters. xD **

**Paris, do I get extra cred for the double-jealousy?! ;) So first Ned was jealous of Dan, and then Madison was jealous of Natalie. And then they got wrapped up in each other and the jealousy ended. xD **

**I love you guys :D Peace! ;) I remain, **

**~Sri**


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